


The Proposal

by BleatingGoat (Nat20)



Series: The Royal Wedding [1]
Category: Flight Rising
Genre: Cute, F/M, Friendly fight, Marriage Proposal, Sparring, its so cute ya'll, sparring match
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-03-02
Packaged: 2019-11-08 04:19:41
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,102
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17974379
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nat20/pseuds/BleatingGoat
Summary: Reunan finally gets the courage to ask Elva, the princess of the Bovidae Kingdom and leader of the Donnelly family, to marry him. As per Donnelly tradition, one should ask another to marry them after a battle was won or during a sparring match.





	The Proposal

**Author's Note:**

> I wrote this to celebrate their first nest, especially since it took me a little over a year to breed Elva!

“Welcome to the Donnelly training grounds!” Elva said, holding her hands out in pride. The training grounds was a mix between a cave and the outdoors, built around a small hole in the mountains with sharp peaks all around and various towers of rocks built up. Some of the towers had iron spikes pierced into them. Reunan watched some Donnelly moving from spike to spike around the tower while someone kept time. Other Donnelly were lifting weights, punching rocks, or trying to stand while more weight was placed on their shoulders either in their bipedal or dragon forms. He noticed a majority of them were imperials, ridegebacks, or guardians. There were a few skydancers roaming about, although only a few of them were taking part in the training.

“This is… intense,” Reunan remarked, watching a harpy drop a rock on a guardian’s back. She rose up roaring in response and carried the rock for several feet before dropping it and giving another roar.

“The Donnelly are the warriors. You don’t have to be a fighter to be one of us, but it helps. We also accept those good in war planning. Every other family depends on us for protection. The Callaghan are the walls of the Bovidae, but when someone breaks past them, they call us. Then we handle whatever problem it is. Beast. Dragon. Emperor. Doesn’t matter.” Elva grabbed a sword and shield and tossed them to Reunan, motioning for him to follow her to the sparring ring. She grabbed a spear and shield before jumping into the dirt filled area.

“So, you are all the fighters?”

“Not all. Just a majority. Man, you should see Sedai or Lorcan in battle! But, their families aren’t the fighters. They are the healers and farmers and engineers.” Elva patted Reunan on the shoulder, giving him a soft smile. “The reason we train so hard is because we know everyone will depend on us in battle. If you are a Donnelly, you have to be ready to die for everyone else in the kingdom. If you won’t lay down your life for a humble farmer or a nurse or a sanitation worker, then what are you? Not a Donnelly.”

Reunan nodded in understanding. He saw the love Elva had for Bovidae in her eyes, the care for her own family. But more than that, he saw the burning flame deep inside her that made her the leader of the Donnelly. The strongest fighter among them. He saw it in the way she moved away from him, her tail brushing against the dirt and her legs spreading into a defensive stance.

“You ready?” he asked her with a smile, tightening his grip on the sword and holding the shield in front of him.

“Born ready.”

They clashed with gritted teeth and battle cries. Reunan bashed his shield into her head. Elva hit the ground and flipped him with her tail. She stomped on his chest and lifted her spear. He rolled out of the way and used his tail to unbalance her legs. She pinned his tail with her shield and bit the tip of it, drawing blood. He yelped and stabbed forward with his sword. Elva moved out of the way. They struggled against each other, both trying to gain the upper hand. Reunan could feel himself losing ground both metaphorically and physically. Elva was fast and strong. She had no concept of planning attacks. She did what she thought would work. It was unpredictable. She picked up rocks, threw dirt, and made cheap shots. It was a fighting style Reunan had never quite encountered. It was exhilarating. It made his heart throb at just the thought that this woman chose to spend time with someone like him. Someone as harsh and cruel and Reunan was but, he wasn’t like that with her. Elva didn’t fix it. Quite the opposite. She wasn’t going to even waste her time with that. Instead, Reunan felt he needed to be better for her. For who she was. Because when he looked at her, he saw a warrior bent on protecting those she loved and someone filled with so much raw strength and emotions. It was breathtaking.

He hit the ground on his back, and felt the butt of Elva’s spear touch his throat. He looked up at her, in awe at how she looked. Panting hard, covered in bruises and scratches, but her eyes. They glowed in excitement.

“I win,” she said between pants.

Reunan reached into his pocket and held up the ring Toril had given him. Elva’s smile faded from her face.

“Will you marry me?” he asked, breathless and feeling his very nerves light themselves on fire. His hand shook up above him, his vision trying too hard to focus on the silver ring, but he kept looking at Elva’s face. The crowd that had gathered around them had grown silent.

“Ru…” she said, her voice quiet. Her brow furrowed and her tail wrapped around her legs protectively.

“I love you. I have since you brought me here to train me to fight like your people. I just… Elva, when I look at you, I know I can do better than I have been. You make me feel proud to be who I am because I can be near you. I know I’m not perfect and I’m not the most honorable man in the world but I’m willing to work on that. For you. I don’t care if my family approves of this or not. All I want is to wake up every day knowing that I can be there to support someone like you.” It was hot. He could feel his face burning. The very dirt under him was starting to feel like lava. His head was light and his tail twitched against the ground. Elva continued to stare at him, blinking. One ear was focused on him, listening to his every word, and another was focusing on the crowd whenever someone whispered something, only to swivel back to him. “Will you marry me?” he asked again, quieter this time, barely above a whisper.

“Yes,” she said softly, before a large smile came to her face. She fell on top of him and wrapped him into a hug. “Yes!” She almost yelled into his shoulder. Reunan laughed, wrapping his arms around her. He felt tears come to his eyes, burning to escape. He let them.

The crowd burst into loud hoots and cries like they were marching into battle. One of the guardians ran off shouting “Elva’s getting hitched!” to the whole kingdom.


End file.
